


Chronomancer

by AXEe



Series: Family Matters [13]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Doctor Who References, F/F, F/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-18
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-07 01:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 11,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10349514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: Time is not a straight line, it bends, twists, changes, in a single second everything wethinkwe know can be erased.  Or restored





	1. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space

**Author's Note:**

  * For [polybi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/polybi/gifts).



> For polybi, CJ's number one fan :=)

******

**DEO headquarters  
2016**

Alex sighed. Despite everything, Astra still refused to reveal what exactly Myriad was

“Still not talking I take it?” J’onn asked

“Nope” he sighed

“You’d think being stabbed with a kryptonite sword would make her a bit more agreeable” he grumbled

“I think, if anything, it’s made her more stubborn” Alex snorted as she glanced into the isolation lab where Astra lay on the gurney, her color was coming back, and according to Dr. Hamilton she was healing nicely from the stab wound. Alex shivered at the memory, if Kara hadn’t convinced her to get Astra back to the DEO for treatment she would have died, and as much as she hated Astra for all the pain she’d caused Kara, she didn’t want to see her die, because Astra’s heart wasn’t in this war anymore, some part of her still cared for Kara

“Alex,” J’onn’s voice brought her out of her thoughts “it’s late, even the janitors have gone home already. Go home, take another crack at her tomorrow” he advised

“Yeah,” she sighed, she was about to leave when a light blew out “what the…?” another bulb exploded, a bolt of electrically shooting out from the fixture, leaping from light to light, destroying each bulb in another shower of sparks

“This is Henshaw,” J’onn barked into his comm. “why wasn’t I informed that Leslie Willis had escaped?” he demand

“ _Uh, sir, Leslie Willis is still in her cell,_ ” an agent replied “ _in fact we’re showing an increase in power to the cell dampeners_ ”

“Are there any other fluctuations in the power grid?” J’onn asked

“ _No sir_ ”

“Then what the hell is that?” Alex wondered as the bolt suddenly leapt off the light and swirled around her, knocking her off her feet

“Are you all right?!” J’onn demanded

“I’m good, I’m good” Alex panted as the bolt made a beeline for the isolation lab, smashing through the glass and swirling around Astra, startling her but leaving her otherwise unharmed, before suddenly doubling back and streaking past Alex and J’onn to strike the floor with a bright flash “what the hell is that?” Alex demanded as what she could only describe as a ‘tear’ appeared in the middle of the air

“It’s a subspace tear, agent Danvers,” she looked up to see Astra standing behind her, leaning against the door of the iso lab “I believe someone wants in” she added as something suddenly shot out of the tear and crashed into a wall, the tear sealing shut with another bright flash.

Slowly, Alex got her feet, gun drawn, as she approached the object that had come flying out of the tear. It was a person, a young woman to be exact. Alex frowned; watching at the woman slowly pushed herself up to her knees, wincing as she did. She was young, probably no older than nineteen, if not younger, she had short curly dark hair with a streak of iridescent blue running down from her left temple, like Astra’s white streak, her black-framed glasses (which she was readjusting) looked like one of Kara’s old pairs, her clothing was black, a simple pair of jeans, sneakers, a black t-shirt with a faded image of the Crest of El on it in dark red, and a strangely familiar leather jacket. She blinked as she focused on Alex, going cross-eyed as she stared at the barrel of the gun

“Don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I’m here to save the world?” she wondered, Alex shook her head “didn’t think so” the woman slowly stood up

“Hands---”

“…where you can see them, I know, I know,” the visitor held out her hands, palms up “nothing up my sleeves expect lint,” she muttered as Alex gestured for her to face the wall, which she did, assuming the position for a pat down “you don’t happen to have today’s date do you?” she wondered as Alex pulled a cell phone, a Swiss army knife, along with some loose cash, at least a thousand dollars worth in twenties and hundreds, and a wallet out of her pockets

“She’s clean as far as I can tell,” Alex announced, holding up the items in the woman’s pockets as she opened the wallet, finding nothing inside expect for a California drivers license “Connor Jeremiah Danvers,” she read “born…,” she blinked, that could _not_ be right “born…August 5th …2019”

“What?” J’onn demanded, Alex nodded

“License issued…October 31st…2037” she stared at the woman standing in front of her, if it weren’t for how she had arrived Alex would’ve had written it off as a hoax or a trick, but this girl didn’t just walk up to her door and knock she literally came _flying_ out of a hole in the universe. She looked back at the wallet, noticing a piece of paper sticking out from under the license, gently easing it out she found it was a worn slip of paper, looking like had been sitting in there for a long time, written on it were simply two words

Trust her

“J’onn,” she said slowly “stand down”

“What makes you say that?” he asked, she held up the note

“Because this is my handwriting” she answered


	2. Tempus Fugitive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex has more questions than answers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update!! Thanks to polybi for giving me the idea sorta (I actually already had the idea, but polybi commented on one of the Family Matters-verse fics and mentioned this as a list of all the things I could do with CJ's character, so, here you go, enjoy)

******

“Handwriting can be faked Alex” J’onn repeated

“I know, I know,” Alex sighed “but, who would go to all this trouble?” she wondered, turning to look back at the monitor. The girl, who referred to herself as ‘CJ', hadn’t resisted when J’onn ordered a team of agents to escort her to a cell, the only thing she’d balked at was when they tried to remove the small, wristwatch-like device on her arm, stating that it was a ‘life support system’, neither Alex and J’onn wanted to take the chance of her possibly dying on them before they got any answers so relented

“I still don’t like it” J’onn grumbled, scowling at the image of the girl, who now sat, rather calmly, in a standard cell, looking bored, reminding Alex of the way Astra had lounged in her cell the last time she’d been held captive by the DEO, the same way she looked even now lying on a gurney in the infirmary

“I know,” Alex repeated “but…there’s something about her,” she shook her head “something, I don’t know, _familiar_ about her”

“Have you met her before?” J’onn asked, Alex shook her head

“Never seen her before in my life” she answered

“Well, hopefully the DNA sample she gave us will tell us something”

“That’s another thing,” Alex began “we didn’t even have to ask, she offered up a sample, I mean who does that?” she wondered, J’onn shrugged

“Any word on those results by the way?” he asked

“No, that’s another weird thing, I think the computer’s having a breakdown or something” Alex muttered

“What do you mean?” J’onn asked

“The first sample I tested said she was human, but the second sample says she’s Kryptonian, and the third sample,” she lowered her voice and leaned closer “says she’s a Green Martian”

“What?” J’onn hissed, Alex nodded “how is that even possible?” J’onn demanded

“I have no idea, the only answer I can think of is that, somehow, she _is_ part Human, part Kryptonian, and part Green Martian”

“Some kind of experiment?” J’onn wondered “like Bizarro?”

“Maybe,” Alex shrugged “but how did ‘they’, whoever ‘they’ are, get a hold of your DNA?” she wondered

“What about the items in her pockets?” J’onn wondered “any clues there?”

“No, only more weirdness,” Alex explained “the money she was carrying has serial numbers that aren’t in circulation”

“So it’s counterfeit” J’onn reasoned

“That’s what I thought until I had Vasquez look up the current serial numbers,” she held up one of the twenties “this bill won’t be in circulation for at least another decade” she explained

“That’s still not conclusive,” J’onn pointed out “what about the cell phone?”

“Well, it’s password protected, first of all,” Alex began “and whoever programmed it knew what they were doing, because our best hackers can’t get into it, but here’s the weirdness,” she held up the phone, pointing to a small symbol etched on the back “this is the logo of a company called ‘Mars Dynamics’.” she explained

“All right” J’onn nodded

“We dug around,” Alex explained “and the only company we could find that had a matching logo is a small tech firm in Silicon Valley which just started up _yesterday_ ,”: she sighed “there’s more and you’re not going to like it” she added

“I don’t like it to begin with” J’onn grumbled

“I found a match for the mitochondrial Human DNA she has,” at J’onn’s nod she continued “its mine”

“What?” J’onn repeated, Alex nodded

“Mitochondrial DNA is passed, unchanged, from mother to child,” she explained “this girl, whoever she is, is…my daughter”

******

“You know, you guys could’ve given me a book or something to read while I’m in here,” the girl began as Alex entered the cell “I’m going stir crazy” she added

“Who are you, really?” Alex asked

“I thought that would be obvious by now” Alex scoffed

“You seriously expect me to believe that you’re, what? From the future?” she demanded

“Well, let’s see, I’m carrying a driver’s license that won’t be issued for at least twenty or so odd years, money that won’t be in circulation for, again, twenty years, a cell phone made by a company that doesn’t exist yet, and, most glaringly, I came through a hole in space that just ‘appeared’ in the middle of the room,” she frowned “how much property damage did I cause with that?” she wondered, Alex sighed

“All right, let’s say that I believe you,” she began “so, if you’re from the future, why and how are you here?”

“Why is pretty easy to answer, how, not so much,” she stood up and began to pace “OK, I’m assuming that if I mention the name ‘Maxwell Lord’ your blood pressure will spike?”

“You’re telling me that Maxwell Lord sent you here?”

“ _No_ , I’m telling you that I came here _after_ Max, I’m pursing him actually”

“Why?” Alex wondered

“Because he’s going to destroy the world”


	3. Mission: Improbable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex gets a headache, Kara gets a little wigged out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update time!!

******

“You’re not seriously telling me that you believe her?” Alex demanded

“Alex!” Kara exclaimed “look at her face, I can see _you_ in there! She has your father’s name, your _DNA_ , hell she has your _nose!_ ”

“That doesn’t mean that she’s my daughter,” Alex exclaimed “for all we know she’s one of Max’s deranged science experiments”

“OK, fine, then how did she get here?” Kara challenged “she didn’t just _walk through the door_ , Alex,” she pointed out “and even if she _is_ one of Max’s experiments then why is she telling us that he’s going to destroy the world? Shouldn’t she be, you know, making him out to be the savior of mankind?” Alex sighed, Kara had made all valid points, but it was just _so utterly ludicrous_ , insane even

“Supergirl makes a valid point, Alex,” J’onn pointed out “whoever she is we have to at least assume that she’s here for a reason” he explained

“Can’t you just…read her mind?” Alex wondered, idly rubbing at her forehead, J’onn shook his head

“I can’t read her mind,” he explained “all I’m getting is a sense of honesty and increasing desperation, at the very least _she_ believes that what she’s saying is the truth”

“I’ll talk to her” Kara offered, Alex nodded

“All right,” she ran a hand through her hair “any word on Winn?” she wondered, Kara shook her head

“He’s still trying to unlock her phone,” she explained “and, according to him, whoever locked it in the first place was a computer genius”

“Great” Alex muttered

“In the meantime,” J’onn began “while your sister’s questioning her, you talk to Astra,” he ordered “maybe she can verify if time travel is possible or not”

******

“I was wondering when they’d send you in” CJ remarked as Kara stepped into the cell, frowning at the way the seventeen year old (if the driver’s license was to be believed) lounged on the bench

She really did have Alex’s nose

“Let’s say, that for the moment, I believe you,” she began “why are you get here? Why didn't I just come through? Or Alex?”

“Actually, it was supposed to be one of you” CJ explained “but I was, unfortunately, the only one who could physically survive the trip without turning into a lump of cancer cells”

“So,” Kara began “why are you here? You said that Maxwell Lord was going to destroy the world”

“Actually, that might have been an exaggeration on my part,” CJ began “although, who knows, the way he’s bouncing around time he just might,” she dug around in her pockets “oh right, you confiscated my phone,” she muttered when she came up empty “OK, anyway, sometime in mid-2017, Maxwell Lord was finally arrested, tried, and convicted for his crimes and was sentenced to life in prison without parole”

“Sounds good so far” Kara nodded, CJ smirked, reminding Kara of Alex again

“Sure, except for the fact that being in prison warped whatever was left of his sanity,” she said “he became obsessed, convinced of what he called the ‘Danvers Effect’, basically he thinks that all the evils of the world are the result of the Danvers family,” she explained “eventually, a few months ago from my time, he broke out of prison, broke _in_ to S.T.A.R. Labs and began messing around with their stuff, eventually reproducing the same experiment that he used on Bizarro on himself, then he just…disappeared” 

“To do what?” Kara demanded “kill Alex?” CJ shook her head

“No, we think he’s trying to destroy her life, not kill her,” she explained “it’s all about ego now; he wants to prove he’s the smarter of the two of them”

“Then how do we stop him?” Kara asked

“Well, you could start by letting me out of this cell”


	4. String Theory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update!!

******

“Agent Danvers,” Astra greeted “how nice to see you”

“Is time travel possible?” Alex demanded, not in the mood for Astra’s games

“I assume that you’re speaking of our newest arrival?” Astra wondered, she chuckled as she shifted a bit on the gurney “in theory, yes, time travel is possible within certain limits”

“Such as?”

“Travel is only possible within the confines of the traveler’s own lifetime,” Astra explained “it,” she stropped and frowned “here, give me your shoelace,” she sighed at the scowl on Alex’s face “I swear to you I won’t try to strangle you,” sighing, Alex unthreaded one of her shoelaces and handed it to Astra “all right, now, keep in mind that I am not a scientist,” Astra began “but according to our science, the structure of time is not a straight line, instead its more like a web or a ball of string, and that theory holds for every person’s individual timestream,” she held out the shoelace between her hands “our lives are like a string,” she began “at one end is the moment of your birth, at the other the moment of your death. Now, if you tie the ends of the string together then your life becomes a loop. Ball the string up, and the days of your life touch each other out of sequence” she held up the balled up shoelace

“Still doesn’t make sense,” Alex shook her head “according to that girl’s divers license, she won’t be born for at least two more years”

“If that is true, then she may have found a way to circumvent that particular law” Astra commented

“I used an anchor,” Alex spun at the voice, seeing Kara and CJ standing behind her. CJ held up her wrist “this thing uses a ‘compatible genetic sample’, which is basically a fancy way of saying a close relative, like a parent or an older sibling, as an ‘anchor’, keeping me tethered here, in this time. I take this off and I snap back to my own time like a rubber band. Or, at least, I _hope_ I snap back to my own time, I might just…disappear. This was all kind of done ad hoc with bailing wire and spit” she admitted with a shrug

“You let her out?” Alex demanded of Kara

“Alex,” Kara began “ _look at her_ , I don’t see a dangerous prisoner here, I see someone who’s scared and is trying everything she can to save her family”

“That doesn’t mean she’s trustworthy, Kara!” Alex countered, as the sisters kept arguing, CJ moved away from them and approached the gurney

[Hello] she said in fluent Kryptonese

[Hello,] Astra replied in kind, she frowned [you speak Kryptonese?] CJ nodded

[You taught me, so I hope I should] Astra frowned as she awkwardly sat up, wincing as she did, CJ reached out and steadied her

[Thank you.] Astra muttered, she frowned up at the girl, reaching up, she gently slipped off CJ’s glasses [I feel as if I… _know_ you somehow] she said

“You should,” CJ said in English “I am your daughter after all”


	5. Videos from the Edge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex freaks out, so does Winn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triple update!!!

******

“So, you and Astra?” Winn asked as he fiddled with the cell phone

“No, _not_ me and Astra!” Alex exclaimed, waving her hands as she paced “ _never_ me and Astra!”

“You ever hear of ‘the lady doth protest too much’?” Winn wondered

“Winn!”

“OK! OK! Just joking!” Winn held up his hands in surrender “what’d the DNA results say?” he wondered, Alex scowled

“That she’s mine and Astra’s daughter” she huffed

“Well, see, there you go, DNA doesn’t lie” he went back to muttering and typing as he tried to unlock the phone

“It just doesn’t make sense,” Alex groaned as she collapsed into a chair next to him “I mean, for one thing she’s a criminal, two she’s an alien, three she’s _Kara’s aunt_ ”

“She’s also smart, tough, and good-looking,” Winn added, Alex scowled at him, he shrugged “just saying,” the phone suddenly chirped, lines of code suddenly scrolling down the screen “whoa! OK!” Winn jerked back

“What it is?” Alex asked as Winn stood up and actually backed away from the phone as if it was poison, shaking his head

“No, no, no,” he laughed “uh-un, I’m done here, good bye”

“Winn!” she grabbed his arm “what is it? What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” he laughed “that thing is wrong!” he pointed at the phone “see the code?” she nodded “its mine” he explained

“Well, OK, that’s good, right?” Alex asked “I mean that means that you can unlock it right?”

“Alex,” he sighed “I only started writing that specific code _last night_ , it’s not even done yet” the phone chirped again

“ _File loaded,_ ” an electronic message announced “ _would you like to view file?_ ” Alex cautiously approached the phone, seeing a video icon on the screen “ _would you like to view file?_ ” the phone repeated

“Yes” Alex answered

“ _Voiceprint confirmed…playing file…._ ” the screen lit up, an image of Astra filling the screen. She looked older than she did now, a few more lines here and there, but otherwise the same

“ _OK, look, I know that right now you’re probably wondering what the hell is going on, so I’ll explain it as best I can,_ ” she sighed, running a hand through her hair “ _you know me as ‘Astra In-ze’, but by this time, the year 2037, my name is ‘Astra Danvers’,_ ” she sighed “ _you and I were married in 2018 on the beach outside your mother’s house in Midvale, a year later we had a daughter, the young woman you know as CJ’,_ ” she paused, glancing over her shoulder as someone in the background called out to her “ _all right,_ ” she called back before turning back to the camera “ _I know you don’t believe me,_ ” she continued and there was a tinge of sadness in her voice “ _that you think this is all some kind of elaborate hoax, to that I ask you, does this look like a hoax?_ ” Alex watched, amazed, as an older version of herself leaned into frame, one hand on Astra’s shoulder. Her hair was longer, there were a few streaks of grey, but she looked…happy, happier than Alex had ever seen herself

“ _Look,_ ” the doppelganger began “ _believe what you want to believe, but you need to find Max and stop whatever he’s planning,_ ” she said, she flashed the camera a tight smile “ _give CJ my love and tell her that if she screws up history she’s grounded for a century_ ”

The screen went blank


	6. Time Heals All Wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> J'onn agrees to track down Future Max, Alex has a moment with Astra, then things get weird

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Multiple update!!

******

“Are we seriously considering this?” J’onn asked

“I think so,” Alex nodded “J’onn, you saw the video and the DNA results,” she sighed “she knows Winn personally—”

“Yeah that was creepy” Winn spoke up

“…she knows _who you really are_ ,” Alex continued, ignoring Winn “I think she’s telling the truth” J’onn sighed and slowly looked between Alex and Winn

“All right,” he finally said “but this is classified, as far as the rest of the DEO is concerned, this isn’t happening,” he sighed “Mr. Schott,” Winn jumped “I know you don’t work here, but we could use your help”

“Yeah, sure, what do you want me do?”

“Go back over the data from CJ’s arrival, try to see if there’s something there that could lead us to…the… _other_ Maxwell Lord,” J’onn instructed “Alex,” he sighed “assuming that we can trust her, work with Astra, find out if there’s anything she knows about stopping a—I can’t believe I’m going to say this—a time traveler” as she nodded he turned to Kara “Supergirl, as of now that girl is your responsibility”

“Got it,” Kara nodded “I won’t let anything happen to her”

“So, uh, what are you going to do?” Winn wondered as J’onn stalked off

“Find a TARDIS” was his sarcastic response

******

Alex scowled as she hovered in the doorway of the isolation lab

“In or out, agent” Astra said without looking up, still scowling, Alex marched inside

“So” she said as she stopped at Astra’s bedside

“So,” Astra echoed “it would appear that, at some point, we will marry and have a child”

“Looks that way” Alex nodded, Astra finally looked up at her, frowning at her expression

“Tell me am I that abhorrent to you?” she wondered “or it is simply the idea of having a child with a non-human and another woman which you find so disturbing?”

“I don’t hate you, Astra” Alex said softly, the Kryptonian laughed bitterly

“Then that places you within a very small minority, agent Danvers,” she said “possibly a minority of one,” she added “is the part of the story where you manipulate my ‘motherly instincts’ and get me to tell you all about my ‘evil plan’ to rule the world?”

“No,” Alex sighed “right now it sounds like we have bigger problems on our hands than Myriad”

“So it would seem,” Astra agreed "I'm afraid I don't know much about combating a time traveler," she added "such things were still largely theory on Krypton," she explained, she frowned “the child,” she began “she is a very…unique individual”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed quietly “she is”

“Such strength of spirit to undertake such a journey,” Astra continued “much like you”

“Me?” Alex echoed, Astra nodded

“You tried to dissuade me from continuing my efforts," she began "even though I could've killed you quite easily, and when I had your Martian compatriot at my mercy, you stabbed me with a kryptonite sword, and yet, you still insisted I be taken in for treatment whereas most other soldiers would have left me to die on the battlefield,” she pointed out “you have a very strong spirit, agent”

“Yeah, well, Kara did most of the insisting” Alex dismissed

“Really, is that so?” Astra wondered in a tone mock surprise “because I quite distinctly remember _you_ telling your commander that you needed to get me here for treatment. Downright begging him if memory serves” Alex snorted, even though she remembered how distraught she'd been over what had happened with Astra on that rooftop, maybe she had been the one to insist Astra be taken in as a POW and just didn't remember it

“Maybe there’s hope for us yet” she chuckled sarcastically

“Maybe” Astra agreed, just as the lights flickered, a bulb blowing out as a bolt of electricity leapt from bulb to bulb

“Oh no,” Alex moaned “not another one”


	7. Mad Max

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Future Max arrives

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Update time, I hope everybody's enjoying this, especially the guest of honor :=), also (points up at chapter title) I just couldn't resist :=)

******

Alex watched as the bolt leapt from bulb to bulb

“I really hope this one’s friendly” she muttered

“Somehow I doubt that” Astra muttered as another tear appeared in the far corner of the room, an object streaking out of it to pin Alex to the wall before she could reach the alarm

“Hello, Alex. Long time no see,” Maxwell Lord grinned. He looked thinner than the Maxwell Lord she knew, ‘gaunt’ would be a good word to describe him, his hair had thinned rather significantly, and he was dressed in standard prison orange with some kind of harness or vest. But it was his eyes that disturbed Alex the most, even more than the hand he had wrapped around her throat, they were wide, crazy eyes, whatever remnant of sanity that this version of Max had had long since gone the way of the dodo “you know,” he began in a casual, conversational, tone “I’m really tempted to just wring your neck like a wet towel right now, but,” he suddenly dropped her, grinning as she fell to the floor choking and wheezing for air, before shooting back over to Astra’s bedside in a burst of superspeed, pinning Astra to it with a hand to her throat “I think it’ll be more fun to make you _watch_ instead” he hissed

“Let her go” Alex ordered as she staggered to her feet, gun drawn. This was bad; Astra still didn’t have her powers back, which meant it wouldn’t take much effort on Max’s part to kill her.

Or worse

“You know what the _best_ part about this is?” Max asked as he hauled Astra off the gurney and held her up, his hand still around her throat “you don’t even know how much she’ll end up meaning to you, and _that_ is…just… _beautiful_ ”

“Max!” Alex turned, watching as CJ marched into the room, Kara and J’onn right behind her

“Little CJ Danvers! What a surprise!” Max exclaimed “wow, you’ve really gotten tall” 

“Put my Mother down” CJ ordered, and Alex had to admire the solid _steel_ in her voice. Max chuckled

“Or what? You’ll _read_ me to death?” he mocked “I know you, Connie,” he scoffed “you’re a pacifist, you’re not like your mothers, you don’t have what it takes” CJ smirked and then suddenly charged him at superspeed, actually _phasing_ through him, tearing Astra out of his grip and knocking him to the floor in one fluid movement

“ _Nobody_ calls me ‘Connie’!!” she roared, she gripped him by one arm and then swung him up and into a wall. With a roar, Max suddenly charged, knocking CJ off her feet as he shot past her, grabbing Astra by the throat and pulling her flush against him

“I’m just borrowing her, don’t worry” he sneered before he shot up, smashing through the ceiling, carrying Astra with him

“Stay with Mom!” CJ called out to Kara as she took off after him…

******

“Any word?” J’onn asked

“No,” Alex sighed “CJ lost him over the hills,” she reported “she and Kara are still searching but it’s getting late”

“Call them back” J’onn ordered

“Hank! He is going to _kill_ Astra!”

“I don’t think he will,” J’onn explained “CJ said that he wants to ruin your life, right? That he wants to outsmart you? Well, if he’s still anything like the Maxwell Lord from our own time he won’t kill her, not yet anyway, he wants to taunt you, make you suffer for whatever sin you committed, or he _thinks_ you committed, against him in the future”

“He’s right.” Alex looked over as CJ shuffled over to them “she’s still alive”

“How do you know?” Alex asked

“I can feel her,” CJ explained, she tapped her temple “in here. Its part my Martian heritage, I have a low-level mental link with you two, a bond, I can sense you both, tell if your in pain or not. So far she’s all right”

“Can you sense where she is?” J’onn wondered, CJ shook her head

“No, only that she’s far away, at the limits of the link,” she explained, she looked tired, drained, and Alex suddenly remembered that she was only seventeen, still just a kid really, far too young to go tearing around time after a nutcase like Maxwell Lord, and Alex had to wonder about her and Astra’s future selves if they’d let their own daughter do something like this “will you stop that?” CJ said, giving Alex a ‘look’ from over her glasses “nobody forced me to do this,” she explained, she smirked, looking like Astra in that moment “in fact,” she added “I didn’t really give them a choice”

“Wait,” Alex began “are you saying that you…?”

“Basically ‘snuck out’ through a tear in time? Yep” Alex had to chuckle

“You’re going to get in real trouble” she said, CJ nodded

“Oh, I know I am, but, see, by doing this, I’ll have someone to _get in trouble with_ when I get home”

“So, if you’re here without your parents knowing, then how did the video get on your phone?” J’onn asked

“Or the note in your wallet?” Alex added, CJ held up her wrist, the anchoring device still blinking away

“According to Winn, the tether goes both ways, at least for transmissions anyway,” she explained “Mom and Mother must’ve found my note and then recorded that message and sent it after me in the hopes that you’d help me. As for the note in my wallet, funny story about that one, there was an amnesia virus that broke out in the DEO a few years back, you wrote that yourself so that, if you forget me—which you didn’t—you’d still have a link to your memory,” she shrugged “I didn’t even remember it was there” she admitted

“So, wait,” Alex began “you left without your parents knowing, but left them a note?” she asked, wondering just what it had said _‘hi Mom, going back in time to stop Max, don’t wait up for me’?_

“Of course I left a note,” CJ exclaimed “I’m not going to have them worry about me. I’m not Alura”

“Alura?” Alex echoed

“Kara and James’ daughter, my cousin,” CJ explained, she smiled fondly “my best bud, we’re as thick as thieves, as close as you and Aunt Kara” she explained

“James?” the trio turned to see Kara herself walking up to them

“Yeah, you and he got married just about a year before my parents,” CJ explained “but you waited awhile before trying for kids, hence why Ally’s a year younger than I am. Something which I never let her forget”

“Wait a minute,” J’onn spoke up “aren’t you changing the timeline just by telling us this?” she asked

“Well, actually no,” CJ answered “from the way Mother, that’s Astra to you, explained it to me, according to Kryptonian theories, time is both very rigid and very flexible, big events, like say the Holocaust are ‘fixed points’ in time they _have_ to and _will_ happen no matter what you do, but smaller events—like say two people meeting and falling in love and getting married—are easier to change, but even then, time can snap back to its original state like a rubber band. According to Mother once I either stop Max and/or bring him back to my time, time will snap back to normal, it’ll reset basically” she explained

“And we’ll all go right back to whatever we were doing before you showed up without any memory of all of this because, for us, it hasn’t happened, it never happened” Alex reasoned

“So the theory goes, anyway,” CJ nodded “so, I apologize in advance if I break up you and Mother before you’ve even gotten together,” she turned to Kara “that same for you and Uncle James” she added, Kara nodded, still looking a little bug-eyed

“James…and I…have a daughter?” she said slowly, CJ shrugged

“Hey, you think that’s something,” she said “try Winn and Lucy are having a baby,” Kara looked faint as CJ walked off muttering “I really hope I still exist when I get back”

******

Astra sat up with a groan, wincing as the scar tissue in her chest _pulled_ as she slowly sat up, leaving her gasping for breath as she took in her surroundings, which, so far, were somewhere dark and dank and sandy, a cave possibly

“Welcome back, General” Astra scowled, she had never liked Maxwell Lord to begin with, there had always been an insincerity about him that fueled her anger at humanity’s disregard for the health of their planet. To find out that, at some point in the future, he would try to harm Alex just made her angrier. She, unlike Alex, had fully accepted the idea that they might one day marry and have a child in one possible future, welcomed it even, she was already attracted to the other woman, taken by her bravery, her spirit, and she welcomed the idea that she could truly find love and have a family again.

“What do you want?” she spat out, she may have still been as weak as a human at the moment, but she would not let him see her weakness

“What do I want?” Max sighed rhetorically “oh, not much, a little song, a little dance, your wife’s head on a lance”

“I’m afraid you have me at a loss,” Astra sighed “what exactly has she done?”

“OK, General, history 101. You see, a few months from now, your dear ex-husband Non will launch Myriad, but by then you’ll have switched sides with the DEO, and you’ll give them the means to protect themselves from the wave,” he began “now, you see, you and the little woman stop Myriad almost single-handedly, Supergirl flies Fort Rozz into space, Non gets arrested, and hooray the world is safe, _mazevl tov_. But then, you see then, things get crazy”

 _’Like you, you mean?’_ Astra thought

“You mean you were arrested” she said aloud

“Falsely,” he dismissed “there’s no crime in trying to keep the world safe. But, see, while I was in my cell, I started thinking, everything suddenly started going wrong once I met Alexandra Danvers. First her ‘sister’ shows up and _everybody_ and their grandma suddenly starts thinking that if they eat their veggies they can grow up to be just like her. Then, one day, she showed her true colors, fired a couple of police cars, and you and your little Martian buddy stopped her, and then, suddenly people started hailing you two as heroes, the president even created an amnesty act that gave aliens full rights as citizens,” Astra gasped as a hand suddenly closed around her throat again “you don’t get rights if you’re not human” Max hissed


	8. In a Cave, With a Box of Spares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CJ helps track down Astra, but of course nothing is ever easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update!!

******

“OK!” Alex turned, watching as CJ wheeled a cart into Command

“Uh, what is that?” Winn asked, pointing to the large, shoebox-sized device on the cart

“It’s a positron generator,” CJ explained as she looped a wire around her neck and began fiddling with a soldering iron, Alex stared, she’d seen positron generators before, they were usually about the size of a small room, this thing looked like it could comfortably fit onto the back of her Ducati “you see,” CJ continued “once I fire this up, the positron field should react with the bioelectric aura of any Kryptonian, or in Max’s and my case, Kryptonian-like being within a ten mile radius”

“Which would do what?” J’onn asked, Winn started to chortle

“Oh, man, that is genius!” he exclaimed “it’ll make them glow” he grinned

“Glow?” Alex repeated skeptically “we’re going to find Astra and Max because they’ll…’glow’?”

“Actually,” CJ spoke up, her head still buried in the guts of the device “what it’ll do is increase the strength of their body’s bioelectric aura into the visible spectrum, which hopefully will make it strong enough to be picked up the DEO satellite network”

“You built this yourself?” Alex asked

“Uh-huh” came the slightly distracted answer

“In…ten minutes?” CJ looked up, blinking owl-like behind her glasses

“Well, I would’ve done it in five, but I was eating a sandwich,” she explained, she smirked, reminding Alex of Astra again “come on, I have Winn for an uncle, I was coding in seven different languages before I was six, three of which aren’t native to Earth. This,” she gestured to the generator “is nothing,” she connected a wire and shut the panel “OK, here’s goes” she flicked a switch and the device let out a deep hum and Alex jumped as both CJ and Kara began glowing with shimmering, sparkling, golden auras

“Uh, I think it’s working,” Kara said staring at her hands “this is kinda cool” she grinned

“Oh, yeah, it’s working all right” Winn called out, he pointed to the monitors, which had picked a surge of ‘unknown energy’ in an area just outside the city up in the hills

“Gottcha” Alex grinned

“All right,” J’onn began “Supergirl, Agent Danvers get a strike team ready,” he ordered, he frowned at CJ “don’t suppose you’d listen if I told you stay behind”

“No”

“Didn’t think so”

******

Alex scowled as the SUV hit another bump in the dirt trail that California Parks and Rec called a ‘road’, the trip was made even worse by the fact that it was all ready well past nightfall

“You guys need to invest in some better shocks” CJ grumbled besides her, Alex chuckled, giving the teen a sideways glance as she shifted in the passenger seat while Alex drove. In the dark, with only light coming from the stars and moon above, CJ really did look like Astra, she had same barring, regal, queen-like, but, unlike the Astra that Alex knew now, there was a softness there, a kindness, a gentleness, CJ was someone who would probably try to talk her way out of a fight first before resorting to violence

“So,” Alex began “you do a lot of engineering back home?”

“Some,” CJ nodded “like I said I had Winn for an uncle, so I grew up around alien technology, building strange devices on the fly was kinda normal for me”

“And your cousin?”

“Smart, but a slacker,” CJ answered “she’s more interested in being ‘normal’.” she explained

“And you’re not?” Alex asked in surprise

“Being an alien, or in my case, half alien by my time is like being gay here,” CJ explained “legally we have all the same rights as humans since the Alien Amnesty Act was passed, but your average Joe is still a little leery of us. I don’t hide who I am, but I don’t broadcast it either”

“So if someone asked you point-blank if you’re an alien you’d say ‘yes’?”

“Yes” Alex nodded as she pulled the SUV to a stop at the coordinates, tapping her comm. as she killed the engine

“Hank, we’re here”

“ _Understood, Supergirl’s in position_ ” J’onn replied

“Copy that,” Alex frowned at CJ “what exactly can you do?” she asked

“You mean my powers?” Alex nodded “I’m just as fast and strong as a Kryptonian, I’m bulletproof, I have x-ray vision but not heat vision, and the Green Martian DNA in me allows me to fly and phase but not shapeshift, and I can sense emotions but I can’t read minds” CJ explained, Alex nodded

“Impressive” she noted

“Yeah, now let’s get my Mother away from Max so I can go home” CJ grumbled as she opened the door and climbed out, Alex following suit

“Can you see anything?” Alex asked, as CJ peered around the canyon over her glasses before shaking her head

“No, nothing yet,” she answered, she cupped her hands around her mouth “MAX!! Get your arrogant ass out here!!!” she suddenly bellowed, her voice echoing around the rocks. There was a woosh near their left, and both turned to find Max standing in front of the SUV, Astra at his feet. In the headlights, Alex could get a clearer look at the vest or harness that Max was wearing, noting that it looked similar to the anchoring device on CJ’s wrist, as if it was based on the same technology, was that how he traveled through time, she wondered

“Back for more I see” Max commented, Alex glanced down at Astra

“You all right?” she asked

“Not particularly,” Astra growled out, she glanced up at CJ “you brought her here?” she asked, annoyed

“I volunteered,” CJ answered, glowering at Max “game’s over, Max, you’re coming back with me, one way or another” she declared

“Oh really?” Max mocked “and just whose going to help you with that?”

“Her” CJ answered. There was a woosh and Kara suddenly slammed into Max a nearly full speed, knocking him back into a sprawl. Groaning, Max staggered to his feet, shooting up into the sky

“Stay with Astra!!” Kara ordered as she and CJ took off after him. As she rushed to Astra’s side, Alex watched, amazed, at the three way areal brawl taking place above her, noticing that CJ’s fighting style seemed to largely hinge on her phasing ability, she would phase through Max to avoid a blow, hit him, and then phase through him again, fighting on a technique based on evasion and deflection rather than just pummeling him as Kara was doing

“Are you all right?” Alex asked, returning her attention to Astra

“I’m fine” Astra panted out, even as she held her side, frowning Alex cautiously poked her there, nodding as Astra winced

“You’re not fine, you have a least three broken ribs,” she announced, grabbing the first aid kit slung over her back “damn it, Astra, how do you get into these situations?” she muttered

“Apparently by marrying you it would seem” Astra chuckled as Alex began wrapping her ribs

“Wedding hasn’t happened it” Alex pointed out, Astra smirked

“The seventeen year old who shares our DNA would beg to differ I think,” she pointed out, she reached out and cupped Alex’s cheek “its not abhorrent a thought as you might think, Alex” she said softly

“What isn’t?” Alex asked, finding herself getting lost in grey-green eyes

“Marrying you,” Astra explained “falling in love with you, having a child with you”

“No,” Alex said softly “it’s not” a loud crash broke the spell. Turning both women watched as CJ and Kara loomed over Max as he staggered to his feet

“Stay down if you know what’s good for you” Kara snarled

“You don’t get it do you?” Max panted out “I’m not like you, I don’t have a weakness, I can do anything!!!” he suddenly grabbed two handhold-like parts of the harness and pulled on them. Instantly another tear opened up, the howling wind knocking Kara and CJ back “see you on the other side!!!” Max called out as he jumped through it

“No, don’t!” CJ gabbed Kara’s arm as she tried to follow him “you don’t have a transit device, you’d be torn apart by the event horizon” she explained

“Where’s he going?” Alex demanded over the wind, CJ glanced down at the device on her arm, flipping up the top to reveal a small screen where a series of numbers were currently scrolling past

“Shit!” CJ held out the device, a date now displayed on the screen

04-05-1990

“Alex, that’s your birthday” Kara exclaimed

“Oh my god!” Alex realized “he’s gone back to the day I was born”

“To do what?” Kara asked, just as the tear seemed to widen, another, smaller tear splintering off from it, the device on CJ’s wrist began to let out an alarm

“ _Alert, temporal incursion in progress_ ” it announced

“What does that mean?” Kara demanded

“It means he's changing history,” CJ explained “big time”

Reality suddenly shattered…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know how old Alex is supposed to be, I think we're supposed to assume that she's a year or two older than Kara, and in season two she mentions to Kara that she's 'almost thirty' so I just used my own birth year, which would make her around twenty-six/seven by 2016/17


	9. Alternative Facts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things go from bad to worse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triple update!! Or the only time that phrase can actually be used is in a time travel story, thanks President Manbaby :=) and (and thank you writerstealth for giving me that name! :=)

******

“Kara!” Astra sat up with a shout, wincing as she pulled on her injured ribs. Looking around she found she was in the same spot as she had been before, except the SUV was gone “Kara?” she repeated

“Here,” Astra looked around, spotting Kara slowly sitting up “what happened?” she asked as Astra shuffled over

“I don’t know,” Astra answered, looking around “where’s the girl?”

“She’s over here!” the two Kryptonians turned, seeing Alex crouched over CJ

“Is she all right?” Astra asked as she hurried over as fast as was possible with her injuries

“I don’t know she looks OK” Alex reported, Kara crouched down, squinting

“Nothing’s broken” she announced

“….except my head. Ow” CJ groaned as she opened her eyes, wincing

“Easy, lie still,” Alex instructed, pushing her back down when CJ tried to sit up “just get your breath back,” she advised, she looked up at Astra and Kara “what the hell just happened?” she demanded

“I don’t know,” Astra answered, she turned, looking over her shoulders “but I believe that we’re about to find out” she said as a small fleet of SUVs and HUMVEEs pulled up

“I don’t like this” Alex muttered as a small gaggle of figures in black, though clearly heavily armed, emerged from the vehicles and surrounded the foursome, guns drawn

“DO NOT ATTEMPT TO MOVE OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE,” a voice on a bullhorn announced “GET DOWN ON YOUR KNEES AND PLACE YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD”

“Guess we better do as they say” Alex muttered, lacing her hands behind her head as she lowered her still-stiff and achy body to her knees, the others following suit

“Search them” one of the soldiers—for lack of a better word—ordered. One approached them and quickly patted them down one by one, relieving Alex of her sidearm and poking at CJ’s wrist

“What’s this thing?” he demanded

“Blood pressure monitor, I’ve got hypertension” she answered calmly, the lie rolling off her tongue as sooth as silk. Seemingly convinced, he moved on, checking Astra and Kara next, only getting an indignant squawk from Kara as he checked under her skirt

“They’re clear” he announced, blushing as Kara glared daggers at him

“Are you sure about that, son?” a familiar voice asked, Alex watched as Hank Henshaw stepped forward, examining each of them, her hopes dimed as she saw no recognition in his eyes, he didn’t know her, and even more worrisome, there was a coldness in his eyes, which only magnified as he stopped in front of Astra “General Astra, why am I not surprised to see you here,” he remarked, he glanced at the Alex and the others “and you brought some friends with you”

“I assure you,” Astra began “I mean no harm” she said, smirking, Hank reached out and fingered the bandage around her waist before suddenly drawing back a fist and punching her in the gut

“Guess you’re not” he rasped as she doubled over, coughing and wheezing for air

It was then that Alex realized what was going on

This wasn’t J’onn

It was the real Hank Henshaw


	10. Butterfly Effects

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Witness a world without Alex Danvers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triple update! Only one more chapter to go :=)

******

In a flurry of activity, the four women had been swiftly cuffed and all but thrown into the back a truck which now bounced and rumbled its way towards, Alex assumed, the DEO. She looked back over at the others, Kara looked OK, as did CJ (although the scowl on her face said otherwise)

But Astra looked bad.

She was leaning against the wall of the truck, eyes squeezed shut, quietly panting for breath as she held her arms wrapped around her waist, clearly in pain. Alex was starting to worry that she had internal injuries, if anything Henshaw’s punch had cracked more of her ribs. Unable to get to her on account of being chained to a bench, Alex looked towards the other two, mentally kicking herself when she remembered that they both had been cuffed with kryptonite cuffs as a ‘precaution’ as Henshaw had called it. Shifting towards Astra as best she could she reached out and took her hand, squeezing tightly, offering what comfort she could. Glancing back over at CJ and Kara, she saw that Kara looked a little surprised while CJ nodded approvingly as the truck suddenly jerked to a stop

“OK,” a voice called out as the doors opened “end of the line, everybody out!” more agents filled inside, unshackling the four and hustling them out of the truck

“Let’s go, ladies, single file” one ordered, Alex frowned as she noted that a good proportion of the agents that she could see seemed to be men, when the DEO she knew had a fairly equal number of both male and female agents

“C’mon, move it!” one agent snapped as Astra stumbled “I said ‘move it’!” he barked, giving her a hard shove in the back, causing her to trip and fall

“Hey!” Alex snapped “can’t you see she’s hurt?” she demanded

“I’ll show you ‘hurt’!” he sneered, loading his rifle and taking aim at the back of Astra’s head

“Stand down!” a familiar voice ordered “get General Astra some medical attention,” Lucy Lane ordered as she marched over “she’s no good to us dead,” she added as two agents swiftly came over and carried Astra—who now looked even worse than before—off. Lucy turned to Alex, and once again, there was no recognition in her eyes “take the other three to interrogation” she ordered

******

“How long have we been sitting here?” Alex wondered

“Awhile” CJ answered, shifting in her chair, Alex scowled deciding to ignore the smart-ass response as she looked around the dimly-lit room. She and CJ had been separated from Kara as soon as they were brought in, Alex and CJ in one room and Kara…well, she didn’t know where Kara was, but hoped that she was all right. There was a buzz as the door opened, two fully-armed agents walking in, rifles at the ready, both of them ready and willing to fill both Alex and CJ full of lead if they so much as blinked

“Stand down,” Lucy ordered as she marched inside, the two agents filing out, shutting the door behind them as Lucy sat down across the table from Alex and CJ “I’m Lucy Lane,” she introduced herself as she set down two cards on the table’s surface, one was Alex’s driver’s license and the other was her DEO badge “now, why don’t you tell me who you are?”

“First could you tell us the date please?” CJ asked

“Let’s start with you,” Lucy began, turning to her “there are no matches for your fingerprints in any database anywhere”

“Maybe I’m just really well-behaved” CJ shrugged, Lucy chuckled, clearly not amused, and Alex wondered how much trouble CJ’s mouth got her into, probably a lot she figured as Lucy turned to her

“You say that you’re name is Alexandra Danvers?” she began, Alex nodded

“Alex, yes”

“Now, see, that’s interesting,” Lucy began “because there’s no record of you in the DEO. In fact, there’s no record of you anywhere” Alex shrugged, keeping her face calm despite the growing sense of panic she felt, Max had gone back to the day she’d been born, god only knew what he’d done once he got there

“It’s fairly common name” she said, Lucy nodded

“You said that you were born in Midvale, California, on April 5th 1990?” Lucy asked, Alex nodded

“That’s right”

“And your parents are doctors Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers?”

“Yes”

“Really?” Lucy pulled out a tablet PC and set it down “take a look” Alex felt her blood go cold as she read what was on the screen

Her parents’ obituaries. Both Eliza and Jeremiah had been killed in a car crash on the day she’d been born

As had their unborn child

She’d been erased from history. Wiped out of existence, and if Jeremiah had died before he did originally than that meant that there had been no one stop Hank Henshaw from killing J’onn, which meant that the real Hank Henshaw stayed in command of the DEO, it also meant that Kara’s life on Earth turned out differently—assuming she even existed in this timeline—because if Alex and her parents were dead than Superman wouldn’t have left Kara with them

“Would you like to tell me who you really are now?” Lucy asked as Alex slowly looked up

“I think I’m going to be sick” she muttered

“There’s a thought,” CJ suddenly commented brightly “good plan” in a blur she suddenly broke out of the handcuffs and threw the table aside like a toy boat, pining Lucy to the wall. The door opened and the two agents burst in

“FREZZE!!” CJ dropped Lucy and quickly phased through them, knocking them both senseless

“Come on,” she grabbed one of the agents’ rifles and snapped Alex’s handcuffs with ease, handing her the rifle “let’s go” she said

“STOP!” Lucy surged to her feet, gun drawn, but CJ simply shot over to her and superspeed and tore the gun out of her hand, knocking her into a wall as she did “go ahead,” Lucy panted out as CJ stood over her “do it, kill me” CJ scowled in clear disgust and expertly disassembled the gun, tossing the parts away

“I’m not like Henshaw,” she said simply “and neither are you. Now, you know that something is _wrong_ here, it has been since you joined the DEO, the way Henshaw acts, his views on aliens, you _know_ it doesn’t have to be like this, it shouldn’t be”

“CJ, we got incoming!” Alex warned, leaning out the doorway to fire off a burst of cover fire as more agents swarm down the corridor

“Lucy,” CJ implored “this isn’t you”

“Level Five, Section Eight,” Lucy gasped out “that’s where they took the other two” she explained, CJ nodded

“Is she telling the truth?!” Alex demanded over the gunfire, CJ nodded

“She is” she said, just before she phased through the floor. Alex watched as she reappeared behind the agents coming down the corridor and swiftly disabled them

“I thought you were a pacifist” Alex remarked as the last agent slumped the floor, unconscious

“I am,” CJ answered “you notice I didn’t kill anybody”

“Come on” Alex smirked, she glanced at Lucy, who nodded

“I’ll clear you a path” she said, Alex nodded

******

“Why am I even here?” Alex wondered as the last member of the latest strike team hit the wall with groan “seriously,” Alex continued “you could get Kara and Astra out no problem”

“True,” CJ admitted “but I don’t have your training and I don’t know the layout of this place” she explained as they reached a door marked

RESTRICTED AREA  
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

“Flip you for it” CJ offered, Alex smirked

“Do your thing, kiddo” she said, CJ smirked

“You haven’t called me that since I was ten,” she said before she phased through the door, Alex listened as there were several shouts and bursts of gunfire from the other side along with several loud, heavy thumps, before the door opened and CJ leaned out “come on” Alex slipped inside

“Which way?” she asked as she stepped over several unconscious agents

“Down here,” CJ pointed to two doors right across from one another “Kara’s on the left, Mother’s on the right”

“Are they all right?”

“So far” Alex nodded as she open door number one, Kara’s. The guards on duty looked up, only to yell in surprise as CJ shot in the middle of them and sent them flying

“Alex!” Kara stood up; she looked OK, aside from the kryptonite cuffs on her wrists

“Are you OK?” Alex asked as she hurried to uncuff Kara

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Kara explained “where’s Astra?” there was a loud bang from the room opposite followed by a scream. Turning, Alex watched as Hank Henshaw came flying out the doorway, followed by CJ, who was supporting Astra

“Everybody all right?” CJ asked

“Yeah,” Alex answered “come on, let’s go”

“This doesn’t make sense,” Kara said as they hurried down the corridor, the sound of agents hot on their heels “if Max did something in the past than why do we all still remember it?”

“Eye of the storm, little one,” Astra answered “we were at the epicenter, the focal point, time changed _around_ us”

“So what did Max do?” Kara demanded

“He went and killed Mom and Dad before I was born,” Alex explained “I don’t exist anymore”

“And if all of three of you are dead, then Jeremiah wasn’t there to save J’onn,” Kara realized “so, all we have to do is go back and stop Max”

“But how do we do that?” Astra wondered, CJ whistled

“Uh, guys?” she pointed at herself and then at her wrist “how do you think I got here in the first place?”

“CJ, you can’t do it yourself” Alex exclaimed

“I have to,” CJ shook her head “no one else can make the trip”

“I’ll go” Astra stood up

“You still hurt” Alex pointed out

“And you don’t have your powers” Kara added

“And even if you did, you wouldn’t last long,” CJ warned “time travel is dangerous”

“No more dangerous than this,” Astra pointed out “if we succeed then time returns to normal, and all of _this_ …” she gestured around them “…will cease to exist,” she smiled at CJ “you say you are my daughter,” she began “then act like it”

CJ slowly nodded

“All right, it’ll take a few minutes to find out where exactly Max landed”

“We’ll buy you time,” Kara said, she pulled them both into a hug “good luck”

“You too” CJ replied as she opened the device and began to punch in commands into the tiny keyboard

“Here they come” Alex announced as gunfire began to burst over their heads

“Almost…I got it!” CJ grabbed Astra’s arm “hold on!” she yelled as a swirling vortex surrounded them…


	11. Time Keeps on Slipping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle but not the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update time! Only one more to go :=)

******

Astra wasn’t sure what traveling through time would be like, but she had expected something intense and disorientating

She was not disappointed

She ground her teeth together against the howling around her as she and CJ fell, tumbling through a dizzying, swirling vortex of grey, tumbling and falling through space and time which seemed to have no direction, on moment they were falling down, the next they were falling sideways, and then the next up. She suddenly remembered hearing about roller coasters and imagined that this experience might be similar to one.

There was a sudden flash of light and Astra had the sudden impression of a tree looming towards her

Then...blackness…

******

**Midvale, California  
April 5th 1990**

“Mother?” Astra groaned, trying to swat the hands that were shaking her away, to tell them and the voice that she wasn’t their mother “oh, right…Astra? Astra?!” there was a sigh “WAKE UP GENERAL!!!” Astra gasped and jerked awake. Blinking she focused on the face above hers, wincing as her memory came back

“Did we arrive safely?” she groaned out

“I did,” CJ answered “I landed on a nice pile of leaves. You, on the other hand, flew into a tree” she explained, Astra groaned as she slowly sat up

“A tree?” she repeated, CJ nodded “well, that explains the woodpecker that has taken up residence in my head for the moment,” she grumbled “how close are we to where Maxwell Lord arrived?”

“Only a few feet and a few seconds behind,” CJ explained, grabbing her arm and hauling her upright, Astra groaned and stamped down a wave of nausea “you all right?” CJ asked as she half-led half-carried Astra through a grove of trees to the side of a road

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Astra dismissed, she wasn’t fine actually, far from it, in fact it felt like her insides were on fire, a burning fire in her veins that was far worse than what General Lane had subjected her too, but that could wait, it had to “report” she ordered, CJ smirked

“All right this is Leigh Avenue,” CJ gestured to the road they were standing alongside, she pointed to the four-way intersection a few feet to their left “the cross-street is Chyler, now according the obituaries in the other DEO’s files, Eliza and Jeremiah were on their way to the hospital, traveling down Leigh towards Chyler, when they reached the intersection, another truck going down Chyler way too fast t-boned them” Astra nodded

“So, obviously, something in the original timeline happened to prevent their vehicle from being struck” she reasoned

“Yep,” CJ nodded as the anchoring device let out another alarm “oh, boy”

“ _Alert, inbound traveler_ ” there was a flash in the middle of the street as another tear opened, Maxwell Lord swiftly emerging. He looked around, scowling as he spotted CJ and Astra

“You two just don’t know when to quiet, do you?” he sneered

“Not really, no,” CJ answered, Max scowled and shot forward at superspeed, knocking Astra aside and pinning CJ to the ground “you don’t get it, do you?” she grunted out “it’s over, Max, you’ve lost”

“Really?” he asked “because I can see that truck that almost hit your grandparents on the day your Mom was born,” his smirked widened “too bad there’ll be nothing to stop it” CJ grinned

“I can fix that,” she wedged her foot under Max and _pushed_ , kicking him high into the air and sending him into the path of oncoming traffic. He slammed down onto the hood of truck that would have hit Jeremiah and Eliza’s, crumpling the hood and knocking it into a spin as he bounced off it to land in a sprawl in the middle of the road. As the driver of the truck stumbled out, looking dazed, another car—a small, weather-worn pickup truck—skidded to a stop, Jeremiah Danvers climbing out and surveying the damage “stay back! All of you!” CJ yelled as she hurried back over to Astra “you OK?” she asked, as a scream came from within the cab of Jeremiah’s truck “oh no”

“I’m fine,” Astra gasped out “go stop him”

“What about you?” Astra smirked as she staggered to her feet

“I’ll help with the labor” she explained. CJ turned and began to march towards Max

“It’s over, Max, give it up” she growled, watching as Max struggled to get back to his feet, apparently even ‘enhanced’ as he was, being thrown into (and bouncing off of) a moving car took the _oomph_ out of him. Despite that, he still managed to stagger to his feet and tapped the harness he was wearing

“You’re probably too young to remember Reactron, aren’t you?” he threw out a hand, a crackling blast of radioactive energy striking CJ and hurtling her back onto the asphalt “thought so” Max grinned… 

******

Astra winced as she shuffled towards the pickup truck, if her ribs hadn’t been broken before they certainly were now. The couple inside were young, but she could see elements of Alex, and of CJ, in them both, the woman, Eliza her mind supplied, was heavily pregnant and clearly in the midst of labor

“What can I do to help?” she asked, even though she knew she looked far worse than either of them did, she was barefoot and disheveled, dressed in a pair of torn hospital scrubs, but the husband, Jeremiah, looked desperate enough

“My wife, please!” he begged, Astra nodded, awkwardly crouching down in the passenger side door

“What’s your name?” she asked

“Eliza…Danvers,” Astra nodded as she gestured for Eliza to lay down “have you ever done this before?” Eliza asked, panting for breath

“I helped deliver my niece,” Astra answered _’your other daughter’_ she added silently “give me your hand," she instructed, Eliza reached out, grasping her hand almost desperately “this is your husband?”

“Jeremiah” he answered with a nod

“Come over here, sit behind her,” Astra instructed “is this your first child?”

“Yes” Eliza answer, gasping in pain

“Easy, easy, just squeeze my hand,” Astra instructed “all right, Eliza? I want you to push on the count of three, ready? One…two…three!”

Eliza Danvers screamed

******

CJ grunted as she tried to get up, that blast had taken a lot out of her, but she had to get up, she had to move

“You know, considering who your parents are,” Max began as he approached her “I expected a lot better” CJ smirked as she felt it, the change in the air

“Considering who my parents are, _you_ should be more _aware_ of your surroundings” she called back just as a figure in black suddenly slammed into him, knocking back to end up skidding down the pavement. The newcomer turned, the glossy black finish of the mechanized battle suit they were wearing glinting in the sun as she faced CJ and stabbed out a finger towards her

“CONNOR JEREMIAH DANVERS YOU ARE **_SO_** GROUNDED!!” Alexandra Danvers bellowed, CJ chuckled and sheepishly waved as she stood up

“Hi, Mom” the older version of Alex scowled at her, but one could still see the pride in her eyes as CJ got her feet

“It’s _over_ , Max!” Alex snarled as she and CJ approached him

“You don’t get it, do you?” CJ shook her head as she came to stand beside her Mom “you’ve been on your own for so long that you can’t _possibly_ fathom that other people would rush to help those they care about, that they would _cross time itself_ to help them”

“Stronger together, is that it?” he mocked, CJ shook her head

“Wrong House,” she reminded him “ _uldif zehdh_ ,” she recited “family forever!” with a growl she lunged, sweeping his legs out from under him and then pinning him to the ground…

******

“Push!” Astra ordered as Eliza screamed “one more time! That’s it!” Astra had to laugh as a wet, _screaming_ Alexandra Danvers entered the world and announced her presence for all to hear “oh look at you” Astra whispered as she hurriedly wrapped the newborn in Jeremiah’s sweater and handed her to her parents

“It’s a girl!” Jeremiah laughed

“Yes,” Astra agreed softly “and what a wonderful thing she is”

“Thank you” Eliza whispered, Astra nodded, glancing back over to see CJ and Alex standing over a prone, but sill alive, Max

******

“You hear that, Max?” Alex hissed as the sound of an infant crying broke the otherwise still air “that’s me. I win. You lose” laying on the ground, beaten black and blue, Max stared at the two women standing over him

“no,” he shook his head “no, no, no, NO!!!” with a roar he threw both CJ and Alex away like toys, activating his harness “THIS ISN’T OVER, YOU’LL SEE!!!” he screamed over the howling wind as another tear opened “I WIN, ALEX!! I ALWAYS WIN!!!” he crowed as he leapt into the tear. CJ and Alex both turned to see Astra marching up to them

“Where’s he going?” she asked, CJ held out her wrist, the numbers on the device’s screen scrolling down into the negatives

-1000 BC

-4000 BC

-50,000 BC

“Back,” CJ answered grimly “back to the beginning of time,” she explained “he could rewrite history as we know it, make himself into a living god” she realized

“Follow him” Astra ordered

“With pleasure” Alex growled as the three of them leapt into the tear, disappearing into the swirling winds of time, the three of them bouncing around inside the vortex

“There!” CJ pointed towards Max, who was tumbling ahead of them

“There’s a legend,” Astra began “spoken among the higher races: no one can see the beginning of time, it’s a universal law” beside her Alex grinned

“Then let’s write him a ticket,” she snarled “CJ!”

“Already on it! Hold tight!” CJ called out as a crackling field of energy erupted from her wrist device, forming a sphere around the three of them which suddenly shot forward after Max “Astra!” she called out

“Yes?!”

“I know you probably won’t remember this,” CJ began “but if time does snap back to normal, I want you to tell Alex here everything about Myriad, it’s the only way for my future—for _this_ future—to exist”

“All right” Astra agreed as the bubble closed in on Max

“Got you!” Alex snarled as she reached out and pulled Max into the bubble, punching him across the jaw as she did “CJ! The harness!” she ordered

“On it, Mom!” CJ worked her hands in between Alex and Max as Astra held him from behind in a half-nelson, Max kicking and screaming all the while as CJ began to rewire the harness “c’mon! C’mon! Almost…got it! That’s it!!!”

“No! No! NO!!” Max screamed as the harness suddenly exploded…

 ******

“Still not talking I take it?” J’onn asked

“Nope” Alex replied, J’onn sighed

“You’d think being stabbed with a kryptonite sword would make her a bit more agreeable” he grumbled

“I think, if anything, it’s made her more stubborn” Alex snorted

“Alex,” J’onn sighed “it’s late, even the janitors have gone home already. Go home, take another crack at her tomorrow” he advised

“Yeah” Alex agreed, she stopped, frowning

“What it is?” J’onn asked

“I…just got the weirdest feeling of déjà vu,” she explained, she frowned, turning to stare at Astra through the glass “hold on” she muttered to J’onn as she slowly walked back towards the isolation lab, hovering in the doorway

“In or out, agent” Astra told her, Alex frowned, the feeling of déjà vu creeping up again, hadn’t Astra said that to her before? But where? As she stepped inside, she watched Astra stared at her as she eased herself up onto her elbows

“Astra…” she began, why did this all seem so familiar? And why did Astra seem to be just as much under the spell as she was?

“Agent Danvers,” Astra began “I…I would like to…discuss my…situation,” she took a breath “if I tell you about Myriad, about what it is, what it does, and help you to stop it, can you assure me that I will be allowed to see my niece?”

“I…can’t promise anything,” Alex admitted “but, yes, if you tell us the truth, I will try”

Slowly, Astra nodded

“All right,” she gestured to the chair by the bed “sit down and I’ll begin…”


	12. Future Family Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter...

******

**National City  
2036**

“All right,” Astra sighed “I finally managed to pry the book out of our daughters hands and get her to bed,” she frowned at her wife as she joined her on the couch “what are you doing?”

“Looking through the baby book,” Alex turned the book, showing the picture to Astra “remember this?”

“Our first photo of her,” Astra recalled fondly “it’s a shame her birth was so…chaotic” she added

“I was born on the side of the road” Alex dismissed

“You never told me that”

“Yeah,” Alex nodded “the story goes is that Mom and Dad were on their way to the hospital and there was some kind of accident, I don’t really know, Mom’s kind of fuzzy on the details, but anyway, there they are, Mom’s in full labor and this woman shows up out of nowhere and offers to help, she stays with them, coaches Mom through it, and after I was born and the paramedics arrived she just…disappeared”

“And your parents never found out who she was?” Astra asked, Alex shook her head

“All Mom or Dad could ever tell me was that she had dark hair with a long streak of white in it”

**END**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Hope everybody enjoyed it, especially polybi! LEt me know what you think of the other Family Matters fics :=)


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